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Bozeman’s Gill wins national title

By Chronicle Staff

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Katie Gill, of the Bridger Ski Foundation, won what amounted to a national championship by finishing first in the girls junior sprint race Thursday at the U.S. Cross Country Ski Championships, the final day of the event.


 “It was fun, it was cold,” Gill told the Chronicle via phone Thursday night.

Weekend races and competition Tuesday and Wednesday were canceled because of temperatures colder than -4, the minimum needed to compete. Temperatures at times reached a range between 10 below zero and 15 below zero.

“It was frustrating with all the races cancelled and postponed and dealing with the frost nip to the ear and to the nose,” Gill said. “You had to go into hibernation mode.”

Gill added that the juniors had to brave not only the cold but the ensuing darkness as the junior races didn’t start until 6 p.m.

“It was pitch black with only lighting around the track,” Gill said. “The snow was really fast and the lights were really glaring at some parts and then really dark in others.”

Gill, who already qualified for the Scandinavian Cup team based on her performance in Monday's races, went to Anchorage with “no expectations.”

“I just wanted to see how far I could go and have fun,” Gill said. “It was one of the most fun races I’ve ever been a part of.”

In the men's race, BSF’s Leif Zimmermann won took seventh overall. Bozemanites Kristina Trygstad-Saari and Kate Dolan both qualified for the quarterfinals but did not advance beyond that. In the Junior Championships, BSF skiers Gretchen Sellegren and Natalie Flowers all qualified for the quarterfinals but failed to advance as well.

Local Anchorage favorite Kikkan Randall claimed first place in a women's sprint race. Kris Freeman placed first in the men's competition in a championship event that featured four days of canceled races because of subzero temperatures.

Randall won the 1.2-kilometer final heat in 3 minutes, 54 seconds. She edged out Laura Valaas (3:56.6), also of Anchorage, and Lindsey Dehlin, of Marquette, Mich., (4:00.7).

Freeman won the final heat of the men's 1.4 kilometer race in 3:38. He defeated Mike Hinckley, of Anchorage, by one second and Chris Cook, of Rhinelander, Wis., who finished in 3:40.

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